(small computer system interface)An intelligent peripheral I/O bus with a device independent protocol. It allows different peripheral devices and hosts to be interconnected on the same bus.
(Integrated/Intelligent Drive Electronics). It is an ATA specification (the terms are often used interchangably). This is the most common disk interface for hard drives, CD-ROM drives, etc. It is easy to use, but also the most limited. IDE is integrated into your motherboard. It only allows for 4 devices. The other option is SCSI which is faster, more complicated, and allows for many more devices. SCSI requires a separate add-on card and different types of hard drives (SCSI).
Infra Red: Part of electromagnetic waves that is very close to light, but invisible for the human eye. Used for low-rate data transport (eg, remote control signals).
(single in-line memory module)A Small circuit board that contains a large number of random access memory chips. An older type of computer memory that uses a 32-bit bus.
Virtual (or logical) memory is a concept that, when implemented by a computer and its operating system, allows programmers to use a very large range of memory or storage addresses for stored data. The computing system maps the programmer's virtual addresses to real hardware storage addresses. Usually, the programmer is freed from having to be concerned about the availability of data storage.
The scattering of data over a disk caused by successive insert, update and delete operations. This eventually results in slow data access times as the disk needs to do more work to construct a contiguous copy of the data on disk. A database reorganization is sometimes required to fix fragmentation problems.
Software that mimics the performance of a hardware device. For Intel 80386 and higher processors, a virtual machine is protected memory space that is created through the processor's hardware capabilities.
(operating system)The foundation software of a machine; that which schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a default interface to the user between applications. The facilities an operating system provides and its general design philosophy exert an extremely strong influence on programming style and on the technical cultures that grow up around its host machines.
(NT file system)Short for NT File System, one of the file system for the Windows NT operating system (Windows NT also supports the FAT file system). NTFS has features to improve reliability, such as transaction logs to help recover from disk failures. To control access to files, you can set permissions for directories and/or individual files. NTFS files are not accessible from other operating such as DOS.
(file allocation table) DOS uses the FAT to manage the disk data area. The FAT tells DOS which portions of the disk belong to each file. The FAT links together all of the clusters belonging to each file, no matter where they are on disk. The FAT is a critical file: you should be sure to back it up regularly. FAT32 is a newer type of FAT that was designed to handle large hard disks. The older FAT (FAT16) can only support partitions up to two gigabytes in size.
((modulator/demodulator)A device that converts the digital signal from a computer to an analogue signal that can be transmitted along an ordinary phone line. This allows computers to connect to the Internet through a telephone line.
(Uniform Resource Identifier) An address for s resource available on the Internet. The first part of a URI is called the "scheme". the most well known scheme is http, but there are many others. Each URI scheme has its own format for how a URI should appear.
the principle that basic Internet protocols should be non-discriminatory, esp. that content providers should get equal treatment from internet operators
Network Interface Card. A plug-in expansion card with a connection for a network cable, or an antenna for wireless transmission. Also called a network adapter card.
Standard Generalized Markup Language. SGML is both a language and an ISO standard for describing information embedded within a document. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is based on the SGML standard.
HyperText Markup Language, the coding language used to create hypertext documents for the World Wide Web. In HTML, a block of text can be surrounded with tags that indicate how it should appear (for example, in bold face or italics). Also, in HTML a word, a block of text, or an image can be linked to another file on the Web. HTML files are viewed with a World Wide Web browser.
(Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the foundation protocol of the World Wide Web. It sets the rules for exchanges between browser and server. It provides for the transfer of hypertext and hypermedia, for recognition of file types, and other functions.
Extensible Markup Language. A flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the World Wide Web, intranets, and elsewhere. XML is a formal recommendation from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) similar to the language of today's Web pages, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
XHTML is the next generation of HTML and is a hybrid between HTML and XML. XML was designed to describe data. HTML was designed to display data. XHTML is much stricter than HTML. Not all browers support XML so XHTML provides an intermediary soluton and can be interpreted by XML and HTML browsers.
ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. An ISP provides access to the Internet for others via some connectivity service(s). Examples of ISPs include Earthlink, Mindspring, and WorldNet to name a few.
Blog is short for weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site.
Wiki is a web application that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content. Wiki also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website
A graphical design applied to all numerals, symbols and characters in the alphabet. A font usually comes in different sizes and provides different styles, such as bold, italic, and underlining for emphasizing text.
A collection of alphabets in a similar style but in different weights or classifications. For example, the Garamond font family might include Garamond, Garamond Bold, Garamond Italic, and Garamond Bold Italic.
Like typewritten characters, these all have the same width and take up the same amount of space. Use of this type allows figures to be set in vertical rows without leaving a ragged appearance (as opposed to proportional type).
(forward-slash)A solidus, oblique or slash, /, is a punctuation mark. It is also called a diagonal, separatrix, shilling mark, stroke, virgule, slant, or forward slash.
(back-slash) a typographical mark (glyph) used chiefly in computing. Sometimes called a reverse solidus, it is the mirror image of the common slash or solidus. It is also known as a slosh, according to the Macquarie dictionary, rev. 3rd edn (meaning #4).
(tilda)The tilde is a grapheme which has several uses, described below. The name of the character comes from Spanish, from the Latin titulus meaning a title or superscription, and is pronounced "TILL-duh" (IPA ) or "TILL-day". It was originally written over a letter as a diacritic (see below), but has since acquired a number of other uses as a character in its own right. In this capacity (especially in lexicography) it is also sometimes known as the swung dash (usually lengthened to ?).
The act of tricking someone into giving them confidential information or tricking them into doing something that they normally wouldn�t do or shouldn�t do. For example: sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.
Pretty Good Privacy - an encryption scheme which uses the "public key" approach - messages are encrypted using the publicly available key, but can only be deciphered by the intended recipient via the private key.
A chronological record of system activities that is sufficient to enable the reconstruction, reviewing, and examination of the sequence of environments and activities surrounding or leading to an operation, a procedure, or an event in a transaction from its inception to final results.
Ability of a component or service to perform its required function at a stated instant or over a stated period of time. It is usually expressed as the availability ratio, ie the proportion of time that the service is actually available for use by the Customers within the agreed service hours.
In computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is a programming error which may result in a memory access exception and program termination, or in the event of the user being malicious, a breach of system security.
The art and science of getting people to comply to your wishes. It is not a way of mind control, it will not allow you to get people to perform tasks wildly outside of their normal behavior and it is far from foolproof.
Can refer to both a password that is complex, or, more commonly, a password that is both complex AND secure ( that is it contains numbers, letters, and special characters that do not include personal information such as name or birth date. ) The later being the best type of password (complex and secure).
The process of identifying an individual, usually based on a username and password. In security systems, authentication is distinct from authorization , which is the process of giving individuals access to system objects based on their identity.
A piece of code that is secretly introduced into a system in order to corrupt it or destroy data. Often viruses are hidden in other programs or documents and when opened, the virus is let loose.
A system or combination of systems that enforces a boundary between two or more networks, ie, an electronic gate that limits access between networks in accordance with local security policy.
Any activity designed to trick the search engines into giving a site a higher ranking. Common tactics include hiding keywords as white text on a white page background, submitting a web page to a search engine daily, and building doorway pages.
Public-key infrastructure is the combination of software, encryption technologies and services designed to protect the security of communications and business transactions on the Internet.
a real-time operating system (RTOS) produced and marketed by Green Hills Software. It is royalty-free, POSIX-certified, and intended for use in embedded systems needing maximum reliability, availability, and fault tolerance.
The Concurrent Version System, a source-code control system that Xcode can use to manage changes in source code over time and across multiple developers.
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) communications protocol for file sharing. The protocol was designed in April 2001 and implemented in Summer 2002 by programmer Bram Cohen, and is now maintained by BitTorrent, Inc.
A set of disks and processors that make up the majority of the disk space available to a cluster of machines or to a machine such as the SP. Even thought all the machines in a cluster have some local disk space to hold the operating system and temporary files, if a file server is used, all of the nodes can access the data on the file server. At ATS, all user files are stored on a file server both on the RS/6000 Cluster and on the Linux Beowulf cluster.
Local Area Networks - A network of interconnected computers that is distinguished by its small geographical size (typically measured in meters), privately owned, high-speed (usually measured in megabits per second), and low error rate (typically 1 bit in a trillion).
National LambdaRail (NLR) is a fully operational, national-scale networking infrastructure developed by and for the U.S. high-performance research and education community. NLR provides multiple networks�shared networks, private networks, research networks, production networks, experimental networks�with comprehensive sets of services that are physically and operationally independent from one another on the same nationwide optical fiber footprint.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol: This is a common shorthand which refers to the suite of application and transport protocols which run over IP. These include FTP, Telnet, SMTP, and UDP (a transport layer protocol).
A networking system in which one or more file servers (Server) provide services; such as network management, application and centralized data storage for workstations (Clients).
The high-capacity network infrastructure; the part that carries the heaviest traffic. It is also that part of the network that joins local area networks (LANs) together - either inside a building or across the country.
A hub is a communication device that distributes communication to several devices in a network through the re-broadcasting of data that it has received from one (or more) of the devices connected to it.
A device or setup that finds the best route between any two networks, even if there are several networks to traverse. Like bridges, remote sites can be connected using routers over dedicated or switched lines to create WANs
A switch is a computer networking device that connects network segments. Low-end network switches appear nearly identical to network hubs, but a switch contains more "intelligence" (and a slightly higher price tag) than a network hub. Network switches are capable of inspecting data packets as they are received, determining the source and destination device of that packet, and forwarding it appropriately.
A computer or software providing services to remote client machines or applications, such as supplying page contents (texts or other resources) or returning query results.
The Domain Name Server resolves the name of the Web site typed into the location field of the browser with the IP address of the server that will send the requested information from that Web site.
ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. An ISP provides access to the Internet for others via some connectivity service(s). Examples of ISPs include Earthlink, Mindspring, and WorldNet to name a few.
Application Service Provider - an organization that hosts software applications on its own servers within its own facilities. Customers access the application via private lines or the Internet. Also called a "commercial service provider."
A deprecated element or attribute is one that has been outdated by newer constructs. Deprecated elements are defined in the reference manual in appropriate locations, but are clearly marked as deprecated. Deprecated elements may become obsolete in future versions of HTML.
(Standard Generalized Markup Language) is a standard for how to specify a document markup language or tag set. Such a specification is itself a document type definition (DTD). SGML is not in itself a document language, but a description of how to specify one. It is metadata.
(Extensible Markup Language) XML is a standard data format used for text files and information in computer memory that allows easy data processing and exchange between different applications.
Strict HTML - using style sheets for presentation and doing away with tags, align="" attributes and no tags. * XHTML Strict - Use this when you want really clean structural mark-up, free of any tags associated with layout. Use this together with W3C's Cascading Style Sheet language (CSS) to get the font, color, and layout effects you want.
Document Type Definition file that specifies how elements inside an XML document should relate to each other. It provides "grammar" rules for an XML document and each of its elements. DLESE's metadata records are XML documents.
A document is well-formed when it is structured according to the rules defined in Section 2.1 of the XML 1.0 Recommendation. Basically, this definition states that elements, delimited by their start and end tags, are nested properly within one another.
A reformulation of HTML 4.0 as an application of XML. XHTML is a family of current and future DTDs and modules that reproduce, subset, and extend HTML.
The Transitional DTD includes presentation attributes and elements that W3C expects to move to a style sheet. Use this when you need to use HTML's presentational features because your readers don't have browsers that support Cascading Style Sheets (CSS):
World Wide Web Consortium. An international industry consortium which develops common protocols that promote WWW evolution and ensure its interoperability. Standards that have been defined by the W3C include HTML, CSS and XML.
DEFINITIONS
Hardware/Interface
Memory/Storage/Data
Software/Coding
Internet Terms
Text/Syntax
Security
Wireless/Networking
Web Pages